CHAPTER XVII.
THE SUN SETS, AND THE NIGHT COMES ON.
Having recorded the steps by which Katy had carried forward her nowflourishing trade, from the dawn of the idea up to the height of itsprosperity, we may pass over a year with only a brief note of itsprincipal incidents.
My young readers may have supposed that Katy and her mother hadgathered a great deal of money in the candy trade. It was not so, foras the business increased, and Katy's labors as a saleswoman werewithdrawn, the expenses increased, and the profits were proportionallyless. And then, neither Mrs. Redburn nor her daughter had a faculty forsaving up much money; so that, though they made considerable, theirprosperity permitted new demands to be made upon the purse. They hiredtwo more rooms; they replaced the clothing and furniture which had beensacrificed under the pressure of actual want, and they lived betterthan they had lived before; and Mrs. Redburn had availed herself of theservices of a distinguished physician, whose attendance had cost alarge sum. It is true they lived very well, much better than people intheir circumstances ought to have lived. Therefore, notwithstandingtheir prosperity, they had saved but a small sum from the proceeds ofthe year's business. They were not rich; they were simply incomfortable circumstances, which, considering their situation when Katycommenced business, was quite enough to render them very thankful tothe Giver of all good for the rich blessings He had bestowed upon them.
These were not all temporal blessings; if they had been, their successwould only have been partial and temporary, their prosperity only anoutward seeming, which, in the truest and highest sense, can hardly becalled prosperity; no more than if a man should gain a thousand dollarsworth of land, and lose a thousand dollars worth of stocks ormerchandise. Both Katy and her mother, while they were gathering thetreasures of this world, were also "laying up treasures in heaven,where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt." Want had taught them itshard lessons, and they had come out of the fiery furnace of afflictionthe wiser and the better for the severe ordeal. The mother's foolishpride had been rebuked, the daughter's true pride had been encouraged.They had learned that faith and patience are real supports in the hourof trial. The perilous life in the streets which Katy had led for atime, exposed her to a thousand temptations; and she and her motherthanked God that they had made her stronger and truer, as temptationresisted always makes the soul. That year of experience had given Katya character; it expanded her views of life, and placed her in asituation where she was early called upon to decide between the rightand the wrong; when she was required to select her path for life. Shehad chosen the good way, as Ann Grippen had chosen the evil way.
I do not mean to say her character was formed, or that having chosen tobe good, she could not afterwards be evil. But the great experiences oflife which generally come in more mature years, had been forced uponher while still a child; and nobly and truly had she taken up and bornethe burden imposed upon her. As a child she had done the duties of thefull-grown woman, and she had done them well. She had been faithful toherself.
Providence kindly ordains that the child shall serve a longapprenticeship before it is called upon to think and act for itself.Katy had anticipated the period of maturity, and with the untried soulof a child, had been compelled to grapple with its duties and itstemptations. As her opportunities to be good and do good wereincreased, so was her liability to do wrong. She had her faults, great,grave faults, but she was truly endeavoring to overcome them.
Tommy had returned from his voyage to Liverpool, and joyous was themeeting between Katy and her sailor friend. It took him all theevenings for a week to tell the story of his voyage, to which Mrs.Redburn and her daughter listened with much satisfaction. He remainedat home two months, and then departed on a voyage to the East Indies.
Master Simon Sneed, after Katy's attempt to serve him, did not tell hermany more large stories about himself, for she understood him now, andknew that he was not half so great a man as he pretended to be. In thespring he obtained a situation in a small retail store where there wasnot a very wide field for the exercise of his splendid abilities. Hehad been idle all winter, and when he lamented his misfortunes to Katy,she always asked why he did not sell candy. Once she suggested that heshould learn a trade, to which Master Simon always replied, that he wasborn to be a gentleman, and would never voluntarily demean himself bypursuing a degrading occupation. He was above being a mechanic, and hewould never soil his hands with dirty work. Katy began to think he wasreally a fool. She could scarcely think him "poor and proud"; he wasonly poor and foolish.
At the close of Katy's first year in trade, a great misfortune befellher in the loss of Mrs. Colvin, her able assistant in the manufacturingdepartment of the business. A worthy man, who owned a little farm inthe country, tempted her with an offer of marriage, and her conscience(I suppose) would not let her refuse it. Katy, though she was a woman,so far as the duties and responsibilities of life were concerned, wasstill a child in her feelings and affections, and cried bitterly whenthey parted. The good woman was scarcely less affected, and made Katyand her mother promise an early visit to her farm.
Katy's sorrow at parting with her beloved friend was not the only, norperhaps, the most important, result of Mrs. Colvin's departure, forthey were deprived of the assistance of the chief candy-puller. Katytried to secure another woman for this labor, but could not find aperson who would serve her in this capacity. After a vain search, Mrs.Redburn thought she was able to do the work herself, for her healthseemed to be pretty well established. Perhaps, she reasoned, it wasquite as well that Mrs. Colvin had gone, for if she could pull thecandy herself, it would save from two to three dollars a week.
Katy would not consent that she should do it alone, but agreed todivide the labor between them. The quantity manufactured every day wasso great that the toil of making it fell heavily upon them; but as Mrs.Redburn did not complain, Katy was too proud to do so though her wristsand shoulders pained her severely every night after the work was done.
This toil weighed heavily on Katy's rather feeble constitution; but allher mother could say would not induce her to abandon the work. For amonth they got along tolerably well, and, perhaps, no evil consequenceswould have followed this hard labor, if everything else had gone wellwith Katy. The girls who sold the candy had for some time caused herconsiderable trouble and anxiety. Very often they lost their money, orpretended to do so, and three or four of them had resorted to AnnGrippen's plan of playing "trick upon travelers." She had to dischargea great many, and to accept the services of those whom she did notknow, and who, by various means, contrived to cheat her out of themoney received from the sales of the candy. These things annoyed hervery much, and she cast about her for a remedy.
One day, three girls, each of whom had been supplied with half adollar's worth of candy, did not appear to account for the proceeds.Here was a loss of a dollar in one day. Such things as these are thecommon trials of business; but Katy who was so scrupulously honest andjust herself, was severely tried by them. It was not the loss of themoney only, but the dishonesty of the girls that annoyed her.
"What shall be done, mother?" said she, anxiously, when the loss wasunderstood to be actual. "I can't find these girls. I don't even knowtheir names."
"Probably, if you did find them, you could not obtain any satisfaction."
"I went to see one girl's mother the other day, you know, and she droveme out of her house, and called me vile names."
"I was thinking of a plan," continued Mrs. Redburn, "though I don'tknow as it would work well."
"Anything would work better than this being constantly cheated; for itis really worse for the girls than it is for us. I have often felt thatthose who cheat us are the real sufferers. I would a good deal ratherbe cheated than cheat myself."
"You are right, Katy; and that is a Christian view of the subject. Isuppose we are in duty bound to keep these girls as honest as we can."
"What is your plan, mother?" asked Katy.
"We will sell them the
candy, instead of employing them to sell it forus."
"But they won't pay us."
"Let them pay in advance. We will sell them the candy at eight cents adozen. Any girl who wants two dozen sticks, must bring sixteen cents."
"I don't believe we can find any customers."
"We can try it. For a time, probably, the sales will be less."
"Very well, mother, we will try it; for I think it would be better tokeep them honest, even if we don't sell more than half so much."
When the girls appeared the next morning to receive their stock, it wasannounced to them that the business would thereafter be conducted on adifferent basis; that they must pay for their candy before they got it,and thus become independent merchants themselves. Most of them wereunable to comply with the terms, and begged hard to be trusted one daymore. Katy was firm, for she saw that they would be more likely to bedishonest that day, to revenge themselves for the working of the newsystem.
The girls were not all dishonest, or even a majority of them, but theplan must be applied to all. Most of them went home, therefore, andshortly returned with money enough to buy one or two dozen sticks. AsMrs. Redburn had predicted, the effect of the adoption of the new planwas unfavorable for a few days. The obstinate ones would not buy,hoping to make the wholesale dealer go back to the old plan. After aweek or two, however, they began to come back, one by one, and thetrade rather increased than diminished; for many of the youngmerchants, having the responsibility of selling out all the stockimposed upon them, used greater exertion than before, and strongefforts almost always produced some success.
Thus the business went on very prosperously though Mrs. Redburn andKaty were obliged to work very hard--so hard that the former began toexperience a return of her old complaint. The affectionate daughter wasfrightened when she first mentioned the fact, and begged her not towork any more.
"What shall I do, Katy?" asked she, with a smile.
"Let me make the candy," replied Katy. "I am strong enough."
"No, Katy, you are not. I am afraid you are injuring yourself now."
"I am sure I am not. But I can't bear to think of your being sickagain."
"We must look out for our health, Katy; that ought to be the first ofour earthly considerations."
"We ought, indeed, mother; so, if you please, I shall not let you pullany more candy."
"Shall I save my own health at the expense of yours?"
"I shall get along very well. I feel very strong."
"You are not very strong; I have reproached myself a great many timesfor letting you do so much as you have. I have felt the pain for afortnight, and though I greatly fear I shall have a return of mycomplaint, I cannot let you do all this work. We are neither of us fitto perform such hard labor and both of us must be relieved from it. Ishall go out to-morrow, and make a business of finding a person to dothis work for us."
Mrs. Redburn did try, but she tried in vain. It was odd, queer strangework, as the women called it, and they didn't want to do anything ofthe kind. Katy proposed that they should employ a man; and when theyfinally found one, he was a stupid fellow, and they much preferred todo the work themselves, to seeing him daub the house all over with thecandy, and leave it half done.
They persevered, however, in their efforts to find a person, and aftertrying half a dozen, who could not or would not do the work, they gaveit up in despair. But not long were they permitted to struggle with thesevere toil which their circumstances imposed upon them; for on thenight before Christmas, when a large demand for candy was anticipated,and both of them had worked very hard, Mrs. Redburn fainted and fellupon the floor. It was in this manner that she had been taken at thecommencement of her former long sickness, and to Katy the future lookeddark and gloomy. But she did not give up. She applied herself, with allher energies, to the restoration of her mother; and when she waspartially conscious, she attempted to conduct her to the bed. The poorwoman's strength was all gone, and Katy was obliged to call in Mrs.Howard to assist her.
Mrs. Redburn suffered the most severe and racking pains through thenight, and at about twelve o'clock, Katy went to Mr. Sneed's house, andcalling up Simon, begged him to go for a doctor. But the physician'sart seemed powerless to soothe her. All night long the devoteddaughter, like an angel of mercy, hovered around the bed, and did allhe could in vain attempts to ease the sufferer's pain.
Poor Katy! The sun of prosperity had set, and the night of adversitywas coming on.